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A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR 
PRIMARY GRADES 



A THESIS 

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the 

University of Minnesota in Partial Fulfillment 

of the Requirements for the Degree of 

Doctor of Philosophy 



BY 
FRANCES ERMA LOWELL 



^n 8 1920 



s^^' 



V> 



r 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY 

GRADES 



By Frances Lowell, University of Minnesota 



Introduction 

In October, 1917, the writer began a survey of all the schools 
in one of the representative counties in Minnesota, for the 
purpose of locating all cases of subnormality.^ Such a survey 
necessitates, among other things, visiting every school in the 
county, selecting all children of questionable mentality, and 
testing them, individually, with the Binet-Simon tests. 

The selection of retarded and subnormal children above the 
third grade is relatively easy, for teachers' estimates, previous 
school records, and repetition of grades without the excuse of 
a long continued absence taken together form a fairly accurate 
basis. However, such methods are practically impossible in 
and below the third grade. This is due to several factors : 
first, to the inaccuracy of the school records for primary 
grades; second, to the frequent change of teachers, especially 
in the rural schools ; third, to the fact that many children have 
been in school too short a time to become sufficiently retarded 
pedagogically to suggest a diagnosis of mental deficiency ; and 
fourth, to the inability of many children, on entering school, 
to do themselves justice in the grade because of the strange- 
ness of the new environment. Other difficulties, common to 
all grades, are also encountered in such a survey. Teachers 
frequently persuade themselves that since a child is sweet, 
docile and attractive, he must necessarily be bright; or, be- 
cause he is doing good work in his grade, he is undoubtedly 
normal, regardless of the fact that he is two or three years 
older than his classmates. In one rural school, the teacher, 
on being asked about the work of twin girls in the third grade, 
said with great assurance, " Oh, those girls are very bright. 
They do good third grade work, and they are such nice chil- 
dren." The twins in question had a chronological age of 
twelve years, a fact entirely overlooked by the teacher in her 
estimation of their ability. Mentally, they were found to be 

'^ This survey was made under the direction of Dr. Fred Kuhlmann, 
Director of Research, Faribault, Minnesota. 

215 



216 LOWELL 

7^ and S}i years, respectively, when given the Binet tests. 
Hence, in order to have an accurate survey, the need for an 
impersonal method of selecting children of doubtful mentality 
was imperative. 

History of Group Tests 

At the time the survey was undertaken, no group scales of 
intelligence had been published. Many single group tests had 
been standardized and published, but these, alone, are insuffi- 
cient for making even a rough classification of children. How- 
ever, within the past year, two scales have appeared, namely, 
one given in the " Mental Survey "^ and " A Group Point 
Scale. "^ The group tests used in army work are not dis- 
cussed here because they are intended for adults only, and, 
too, because they have not been published. 

Pintner, in his " Mental Survey," recognizes the need for 
standardized survey tests for selecting individuals for further 
examination and for special promotions in the schools. To 
provide such a scale, he uses well known tests, namely: 

1) Rote memory 

2) Digit-symbol 

3) Symbol-digit 

4) Word-building 

5) Opposites 

6) Cancellation. 

Norms, in terms of percentiles for each chronological age 
from six to sixteen inclusive, are given for each of the six 
tests. Each individual's record of actual attainment is taken 
for each test, and later translated into its corresponding per- 
centile. The index of a child's mentality is found by getting 
the median of the six percentiles. 

The reliability of the survey scale is checked by correlating 
results with those found by using the Yerkes Point Scale. 
In the sixth grade a correlation of only .29 was found ; in the 
fourth grade a correlation of .59 existed, and in the second 
grade, one of .71. When compared with results from Binet 
tests, the correlation was found to be .66. These results tend 
to show, according to Pintner, " that we must not place too 
much reliability on the survey tests for individual purposes, 
but that for groups they give a fairly accurate measure of 
mentality." 

2 R. Pintner : The Mental Survey. igi8. 

3 S. L. Pressey and L. W. Pressey : A Group Point Scale. Journal 
of Applied Psychology. September, 1918. 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 217 

The Presseys took charge of the mental testing done in 
connection with the survey of a certain county in Indiana, 
which the Departments of Psychology and Sociology of In- 
diana University started in the fall of 1917. They, too, felt 
the need for group tests where large numbers of children were 
to be tested and so they tried to work out " a scale composed 
of tests which should be applicable over a wide range of ages 
— if possible from the second grade through high school — 
and which should be highly differential of general intelligence 
throughout this range." 

The first requirement, in the selection of any test, is that 
its " beginning be easy enough and the directions clear enough 
so that nine-tenths of the 3B children would make some score, 
and that the end of the test should be hard enough so that 
no one of the high school sophomores (averaging sixteen 
years old) would make a perfect score." 

The second requirement for the tests, and the one which 
the Presseys consider the most original feature of their scale, 
is that of " careful adaptation in the nature of the tests, and 
in flexibility and ease in control of the class, for work with 
school children." 

The tests used are : 

1) Rote memory 

2) Logical selection ^ 

3) Arithmetic 

4) Opposites 

5) Logical memory 

6) Word completion 

7) Moral classification 

8) Dissected sentences 

9) Practical information 
10) Analogies. 

The results of these tests have been worked out in terms of 
percentiles, and norms published for about one thousand chil- 
dren. Then the reliability of the tests in sorting out extreme 
cases was checked up by comparing group records of twenty- 
one children found in the public schools — who, according to 
the Binet tests, had I. Q.'s of .76 or below— with records of 
normal children. It was found that the twenty-one cases 
" average at the 4 percentile of their age by the group tests ; 
the highest scores made by these cases were at the 8 percentile." 

The ability of the tests to sort out extreme cases was fur- 
ther noted in testing a group of " gifted " children with I. Q.'s 
above 1.25, and also a group of children from an institution 



218 -JDWELL 

. ■**■• 

for feebleminded. The former group made scores averaging 
at the 98 percentile, whereas, in the latter group, only three 
were able to make a rating above the lowest 10 percentile of 
school children of the same ages. 

Again, the age-grade status of children was compared with 
their rating by the group scale, and " the 143 retards in the 
ages from ten through sixteen average 70 points lower on 
their group test score than the 124 accelerates of the same 
ages." 

The correlation of group test rank with teachers' rank, aver- 
ages .65. 

Finally, in order to show the reliability of the tests as a 
measure of general intelligence, comparisons have been made 
between results from three cities for one age and also for one 
grade. " The results obtained by the group tests by age show 
an average difference for the. medians of less than two points, 
whereas the differences by grade average thirteen points." In 
other words, if a comparison of results from a single age 
group, as eight, is made for each of three cities, there will be 
an average difference for the medians of less than two points. 
However, if one compares the results from one grade, such 
as the third, for each of the three cities, the difference for the 
medians will average thirteen points. 

Although both the Pressey and Pintner scales seem to fur- 
nish a fairly reliable method for sorting and classifying large 
groups of children above the second grade, neither of them 
can be applied in the kindergarten or first grade, because chil- 
dren just entering school can neither read nor write, and both 
of these accomplishments are necessary to success in the Pint- 
ner and Pressey scales. Therefore, even had these tests been 
available in the fall of 1917, they would not have been entirely 
satisfactory for the purposes of the writer. 

Purposes of the Present Scale 
In devising and standardizing the present group tests, the 
writer had two purposes in mind : first, to secure a scale for 
measuring the intelligence of large groups of children accu- 
rately enough to sort out all children of questionable normal- 
ity. One could then be reasonably certain that these children, 
when tested individually by the Binet revisions, would be 
found mentally deficient, and the time ordinarily spent in 
testing cases wrongly estimated by teachers to be subnormal, 
would be saved. 

The second purpose was to obtain a group scale which 
would discriminate between dull, average and super-normal 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 219 

children in kindergarten and primary grades. One finds here 
children who, regardless of their chronological age, are men- 
tally capable of attempting the school work of the next higher 
class. On the contrary, some children will succeed better if 
permitted to remain a second term in one grade, and receive 
special help in overcoming individual difficulties. Still others, 
though chronologically eligible, should be kept at home or in 
kindergarten, until their mental age justifies their entrance 
into the first grade. 

The importance of correctly selecting and placing the chil- 
dren of various degrees of mentality at the very outset of 
their school life, is realized when one considers that a dull 
child who attempts the same work as a normal child becomes 
so discouraged by his constant failures, and so overwhelmed 
by the hopelessness of the task, that it takes years to over- 
come the resulting lack of self-confidence, and to make him 
exert his best effort ; whereas, the gifted child, for whom the 
work of the first grade is too easy, forms unfortunate habits 
of study, becomes uninterested and often troublesome. Mean- 
while, taxpayers bear an unnecessary burden when children 
have to repeat grades or are allowed to spend a whole year 
on work which might have been done in half the time. 

So with the object in view of supplying a possible solution 
for the problems involved in school promotions, as well as the 
more immediate purpose of securing a group scale for sorting 
out subnormal children for the survey, the present series of 
group tests to be used in primary grades was devised. 

Some of these group tests are adaptations of the original 
Binet-Simon tests; some have been taken from Dr. Kuhl- 
mann's 1917 Revision and others from Dr. Terman's Revision; 
still others were suggested by tests standardized by the Bureau 
of Analysis and Investigation in New York; and the rest are 
original. 

The Principles Involved in the Selection of Tests 
The requirements of the group test are many, for not only 
must it possess the characteristics necessary to the individual 
test, but it must also satisfy various other demands. Sim- 
plicity is an important criterion in the selection of the group 
test : simplicity of material, of directions, of response, and of 
scoring. 

Since a large number of children must be tested at one time, 
it is necessary that tests be selected in which the material used 
can be easily carried and quickly distributed. In order to 
facilitate handling, and to avoid confusion, the writer has ar- 



220 LOWELL 

ranged the material for the group tests in booklets. To each 
child, who has been in school less than one year, i. e., who is 
in the first grade, and hence can read and write but little, a 
booklet, 7^ in. x 7j^ in., is given, which contains material 
and blanks necessary for the fifteen tests designated as five, 
six and seven year tests. Children in the second grade re- 
ceive similar booklets designed for six, seven and eight year 
tests; while third grade pupils get booklets for the seven, 
eight and nine year tests. Thus, all the responses of each 
child are kept together, and confusion incurred by distributing 
and collecting loose sheets of paper every few minutes is 
avoided. All pages of the booklet are numbered, and definite 
spaces are allotted to each test. All possible elimination of 
disturbing elements is important, for in the primary grades 
the attention of the children is easily distracted. 

Not only must the material for the tests be simple, but the 
directions to be followed must be clear and brief. Herein 
lies the greatest difficulty in selecting tests for a group. Fre- 
quently one feels confident that the directions for a certain 
test are perfectly clear and that they could not possibly be 
misunderstood, and yet when the test is given to a group of 
children, he finds that the meaning is entirely lost. Good 
English must frequently be sacrificed, for the child in the 
primary grades is surprisingly limited in vocabulary. Origi- 
nally, in giving the directions for one of the six year tests, the 
writer said, " Make a cross in the LARGEST square." The 
result was puzzling, for the children crossed the smallest 
square as often as they did the largest. The test apparently 
was a failure for that age group. However, before discarding 
it, the writer decided to experiment a little to see if the diffi- 
culty could be discovered. Instead of having the children 
cross the square, they were asked to point to the largest square, 
whereupon one little girl tearfully informed the writer that 
she " didn't know what that meant." That solved the prob- 
lem. From then on the children were instructed to " Make 
a cross in the BIGGEST square," and the success of the test 
was assured. Brevity is equally essential in giving directions 
to children, for their habits of thinking, of concentrating the 
attention, are not yet formed, and to listen, comprehendingly, 
to long directions is impossible for them. Novelty and change 
are so obviously important in maintaining the interest and 
stimulating the child to his best effort, that further discussion 
of the value of brevity is unnecessary. 

In the selection of group tests, only those should be chosen 
which permit of but one correct response, and that response 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 221 

must have but one possible interpretation. It is true that some 
of the tests consist of several trials of the same sort ; thus, 
three different series of five digits each, are read to the chil- 
dren, to be reproduced, but the child passes the test if he suc- 
ceeds in reproducing any one of the series correctly. This is 
a necessary procedure, because it is almost impossible, in a 
group, to have perfect silence while the directions are being 
given ; and so a single series might not be heard by all. Then, 
too, many children have poor auditory imagery, which fact 
makes it difficult for them to reproduce material presented 
orally. However, in all of the tests a response is either en- 
tirely correct or it is entirely wrong. This " All or none " 
method of scoring is used in the writer's group tests, for the 
purpose of the series is not to discover how much better one 
child can perform a given task than another, but to see which 
children fail to perform it at all, i. e., to sort out the subnormal 
children who need to be given the individual tests before a 
correct diagnosis can be made regarding their mentality. 
That the responses must permit of no variation in interpreta- 
tion, due to the examiner's judgment, is undoubtedly as essen- 
tial in group tests as in the individual tests. 

Altogether, twenty-five tests have been selected which seem 
to fulfill the requirements mentioned above. These have been 
divided into groups of five, designated for convenience, as 
five, six, seven, eight and nine year tests. These have been 
given to 904 school children distributed according to age as 
shown in Table I. 

TABLE 1. 

^9e No. Cases 

• (i-e., 5 yrs. 6 mos 6 yrs. 5 mos. incl.) i6o 

. (i.e., 6 yrs. 6 mos 7 yrs. 5 mos. incl.) 225 

(i.e., 7 yrs. 6 mos 8 yrs. 5 mos. incl.) 224 

(i.e., 8 yrs. 6 mos 9 yrs. 5 mos. incl.) 175 

. (i.e., 9 yrs. 6 mos 10 yrs. 5 mos incl.) 120 



6. 

7- 
8. 

9- 

ID. 



Total 904 

Description of the Tests 

tests for year v 

V, I. Formboard. 

Materials. This is an adaptation of Goddard's* formboard. 

From heavy white cardboard the ten well-known forms are 

cut. Black paper is pasted over the back of the openings to 

make them stand out more clearly, and then another sheet of 

*Goddard: The Training School. Vol. IX,, N^ 4, June. IQ12 
pp. 49-54. ^ ^ ' 



222 LOWELL 

white cardboard is pasted over all this to form the back. Ten 
little cards which exactly fit the ten forms, are placed in an 
envelope pasted on the back of the formcard. 

Procedure. The examiner holds up a booklet in front of 
the group of children to be tested, and says : 

" Open these little books to this black and white card. 
In the envelope on the back you will find a number of 
little cards. Take these out of the envelope and put them 
in a pile on your desk. Now, there is one place in the 
black and white card into which each of these little cards 
will exactly fit, — like this. (Illustrate with square.) See 
if you can find the place for each of the others." 

Help may be given any child who has difficulty in finding 
the place for each card the first time. When all the children 
have the cards properly placed, have them remove them and 
again place them in a pile on the desk. Then proceed as 
follows : 

" Now you know where each little card belongs. This 
time we are going to see who can put all the cards in their 
places first. Everyone wait until I say ' Go,' and then 
work as fast as you can until I say ' Stop.' Then put 
your hands in your laps AT ONCE, without touching a 
single card again. Is everybody ready? Go." 

Allow 50 seconds before giving the signal to stop. Care 
must be taken to see that no child touches a card after he has 
been told to stop. 

Scoring. The test is passed if all ten cards are in their 
proper places at the end of 50 seconds. A plus or minus, 
indicating whether the child has passed or not, can be quickly 
marked on the blank page opposite the form card, by the ex- 
aminer, before having the children replace the cards in the 
envelope. 

V, 2. Counting 4 Circles. (Lowell) 
Materials. A card, 6 in. x 18 in., on which are printed four 
large circles about 2 inches apart, is necessary, and also two 
wooden blocks or other small objects. Space for the child to 
make the crosses is provided at the top of page 2 of the 
booklet. 

Procedure. " When I say, ' Make a cross,' this is what I 
want you to make. (Make X on the blackboard.) If I 
should say ' Make a cross for each of these blocks (holding 
up two blocks), how many crosses would you make? Yes, 
two, — one for this block, and one for that (XX), see?' 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FORPRIMARY GRADES 223 

" On this large card are some circles. When I hold the 
card so you can see them, you are to count the circles TO 
YOURSELVES, and then make as many crosses up here at 
the top of your paper (Indicate) as there are circles. Ready. 
Look." Expose the circles for 10 seconds. 

Scoring. The test is passed if four crosses are made. 

V, 3. Copying Square. (Binet)^ 
Materials. Use a large cardboard on which an eight inch 
square is printed in heavy lines. 

Procedure. Holding up the large square, and indicating the 
space in the booklet to be used, the examiner says : 

" At this side of the big space, here, see how nicely 
you can make a square just like this one." 
Hold the card so all can see it while they are drawing, and 
then when they have finished one, say: 

" Now see if you can make a still better one at this 
other side of the big space." 
Scoring. The test is passed if one of the two squares drawn 
is as good as those on the score card used by Binet. 

V, 4. Discriminating Colors. (Binet) 
Since it is impossible to have children in a group test name 

colors, the following adaptation of Binet's color test was used. 

It necessarily makes a different test from the original, since 

the directions must be comprehended and followed exactly. 
Materials. One-half inch squares of the red, yellow, blue 

and green, are pasted on page 2 of the booklet in the orden 

named. 

Procedure. " Look at the colors in the middle of this page. 

Listen carefully, and then do just as I ask you : 

" 1. Make a cross in the yellow square, like this. 
" 2. Draw a line through the green square, like this. 
" 3. Now make a cross above the red square, like this. 
" 4. Draw a line under the blue square, like this." 
In order that the child shall understand what is wanted, 
draw a square on the board each time, and do what you tell 
the child to do. Give directions slowly, and repeat each. 

Scoring. The test is passed if all four colors are correctly 
marked. 



^ Annee Psychologique (1911) vol. 17, pp. 145-201. 



224 LOWELL 

V, 5. Irregular Tapping. (Pintner,^ Kuhlinann/) 
The present adaptation has been made from the form used 
by Dr. Kuhlmann in his 1917 Revision of the Binet Tests. 

Material. Use a card, 6 in. x 18 in., on which are printed 
four squares, about two inches apart. At the bottom of page 
2 in the booklet are three rows of squares similar to the one 
on the examiner's card. 

Procedure. " At the bottom of the page you see three rows 
of squares. The first row looks like this one, doesn't it? 
(Point to card in hand.) Now I am going to tap some of these 
squares, like this. (Tap the first two squares with a ruler.) 
Watch me carefully, and when I've finished tapping, put a 
cross, like this, X, in just the squares that I tap. Ready. 
Watch." Then tap the squares in Series A in the order 
named, at the rate of one square per second, and allow time 
between series for the child to cross the squares tapped. Al- 
ways tell the children which row of squares to use for each 
series. 

A) 1-2-4 

B) 1-3-4 

C) 2-3-4. 

Scoring. The test is passed if one of the three rows is 
correctly marked. 

TESTS FOR YEAR VI 

VI, I. Aesthetic Comparison. (Binet) 
Material. On each of the pages 3, 4 and 5 of the booklet 

are two pictures used by Binet for the comparison. 

Procedure. " Look carefully at the two pictures on this 

page (3). Make a cross under the prettier one of the two." 

Give the same instructions for each of the pages 4 and 5. 
Scoring. The test is passed if the prettier face is indicated 

in two of the three series. 

VI, 2. Mutilated Pictures. (Binet) 

Materials. The four pictures used by Binet are printed on 
four successive pages in the booklet, 6, 7, 8 and 9. 

Procedure. " Look at this picture. (Page 6.) Part of the 
face is gone. Let us see what part it is. You see the eyes. 
Look, the eyes are there. You see the nose. Yes, the nose 
is there, and look, the chin is there. Now what part is gone? 

^Pintner: A Scale of Performance Tests — 1917. 
''Kuhlmann: The Measurement of Mental Development — A School 
Publication — Faribault — 1917. 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 225 

(Children name mouth.) Yes, the mouth is gone. Now 
make a cross right where the mouth should be, to show that 
that is the part that is gone. 

" Look at the next picture. Do not tell me this time what 
is gone, just make a cross to show me what part is missing). 

" Make a cross to show what is gone from the next picture 
(Page 8.) 

"And now show what is gone in the last picture." (Page 9.) 

Scoring. The test is passed if the last three pictures are 
correctly marked. 

VI, J. Counting Irregular Taps. (Kuhlmann) 

Materials. The examiner needs a wooden block or the 
blunt end of a pencil for tapping. Ruled blanks are provided 
the children on page 10 of the booklet. 

Procedure. " Listen. I am going to tap on the table and 
see if you can count the number of taps. You count to your- 
selves, and give me the number when I ask you. Ready." 

Tap 5 times, at the rate of one tap per second. See that 
the hand is screened, while tapping, by a large cardboard. 

" How many times did I tap ? Five, that is right. Now, 
instead of telling me how many times I tap, I want you to 
make a cross for each tap, when I get all through. I just 
tapped five times, so how many crosses shall I make to show 
it? Yes, five, like this : XXXXX. 

" Sometimes I will stop tapping and then begin again. 
Don't let that fool you. You count only those you hear, and 
when I ask how many, you will make one cross for each tap, 
here, on this first line. (Indicate Hne each time.) Ready. 
Listen." 

Tap the following series in order, at the rate of one tap per 
second, for each cross, and pausing a second for each dash: 

1) XX-XX (4) 

2) X-XX-XXX (6) 

3) XXX-X (4) 

4) XX-XXX-X (6) 

5) X-XX-X-X (5) 

Scoring. The test is passed if 3 out of the five series are 
correctly counted as indicated by the correct number of crosses, 

VI, 4. Two Simultaneous Commands. 
This test was suggested by Binet's test in which three 
simultaneous commands were used. 



226 LOWELL 

Materials. One row of circles and a row of squares of 
different sizes are provided for the children on page 10 of the 
booklet. 

Procedure. " See these squares and circles. Listen care- 
fully and see if you can remember what I am going to ask 
you to do with them, when I am all through telling you. 

" Make a cross in the BIGGEST square. 
Then draw a line in the FIRST circle. 

" I will tell you once more, and then see if you can do both 
things. Listen : 

" Make a cross in the BIGGEST square. 
Draw a line in the FIRST circle." 

Scoring. The test is passed if both directions are correctly 
followed. 

VI, 5. Perception of Sound. (Lowell) 

Material. A bean-bag, a baseball, a penny, a pencil, a key, 
and a wooden block are used. Have a table which can be con- 
cealed from the children and from which the above named 
objects can be dropped. A card picturing each of the objects 
with respective symbols to be drawn by the children, is tacked 
up in view of the children. See Fig. I. Space for six draw- 
ings is provided at the bottom of page 10 in the booklet. 

Procedure. " What is this ?" 

Hold up each of the objects and have the children name it. 

" Now look at this card (Fig. I), and tell me what each of 
these pictures is. (Have them name them all.) 

" Now I am going to drop each one of these on the floor) 
where you cannot see it, and I want you to listen to the noise 
each makes, and see if you can tell which of these I drop. 

" If I should drop the bean-bag first, you would draw, in 
this first space, here, this. (Point to symbol at the side of the 
picture of the bean-bag) ; if I dropped the key next, you would 
make this X in the second space, here ; if I dropped the penny 
next you would make this line in the third space, etc. 

" Now shut your eyes, and see if you can tell from the sound 
which one of these I drop, and then look at the card to see 
what to draw. Then draw that in the first space. Ready. 
Listen." 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 227 




A 




o 




X 

D 
/ 



FiGUBE I, (ri, 5) 



228 LOWELL 

Drop objects in the following order: 

block 

bean-bag 

penny 

key 

ball 

pencil 

Scoring. The test is passed if five out of the six objects are 
named in the correct order. 



TESTS FOR YEAR VII 

VII. I. Number of Toes. 

Because it is impossible to prevent a large group of children 
from counting their fingers if one were to use the original 
Binet test, the number of toes on each foot and on both feet 
together, has been substituted. 

Procedure. " I am going to ask you some questions, and I 

want you to write the answers, here at A) , at B) 

and at C) Ready: 

A) How many toes on your left foot? 

B) How many toes on your right foot? 

C) How many toes altogether on both feet?" 

Scoring. Since most children of seven years can make fig- 
ures up to 10, further use of crosses in answering questions 
is not permitted. The test is passed if the answers to all three 
questions are correct. 

VII, 2. Memory Span. (Binet) 

Procedure. " I am going to read you some numbers. 
Listen carefully, and see if you can write them when I get 
through just the way I read them." 

Read the digits at the rate of one digit per second, without 
rhythm. 

" Listen : 

A) 6-5-2-8-1 

B) 4-9-3-7-5 

C) 2-8-6-1-9" 

Scoring. The test is passed if the digits in one series are 
correct, even though their order be changed. 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 229 

VII, J. Copy Diamond. (Binet) 
Material. Use a card on which a large diamond, 9 in. x 
18 in., has been drawn in heavy lines. 

Procedure. " At the left side of this big space, see how 
nicely you can draw a diamond just like this one." 

Hold the card so that all can see it as they draw. After they 
have finished drawing the first diamond, say : 

" Now draw another one at the right side of the big 
space just like this one." 
Scoring. The test is passed if one of the two drawings is 
as good as those on the score card used by Binet. 

VII, 4. Tying Bowknot. (Binet) 
Material. Two pieces of tape, each about seven inches in 
length, are fastened to a stifif card pasted at the bottom of 
page 11, in the booklet. 

Procedure. " You know what kind of a knot this is, don't 
• you? (Show them bowknot already tied). Yes, it is a bow- 
knot. I want you to tie the same kind of a knot with the 
pieces of tape you have, just as quickly as possible." 

Scoring. The test is passed if a bowknot is correctly tied. 

VII, 5. Geometrical Figures. (Lowell) 

Material. Use five cards, on which are printed, in a differ- 
ent order, on each card, a circle, a square, a cross, and a tri- 
angle. See Fig. II. 

Procedure. " I shall show you some cards for ten seconds 
each. On each card you will find these forms. (Draw on 
blackboard. ) But the order in each case will be different. On 
one card a square will come first, and on another card the 
circle will come first, etc. You will notice carefully the order 
of the forms, and when I take the card away, you will draw 
what you saw in just the order it was on the card. Draw as 
quickly as possible. Ready. Look at the first card." 

Allow no more than one minute for reproducing a card. 

Be sure all children are giving attention when you hold up 
a card. 

Scoring. The test is passed if three of the five series are 
correctly drawn. 

TESTS FOR GROUP VIII 

VIII, I. Ball and Field. (Terman) 
Material. The incomplete circle used by Terman to repre- 
sent the baseball field, is printed in the booklet. 
Procedure. "Let us suppose that your baseball has been 



230 LOWELL 

lost somewhere in this round field. You have no idea 
what part of the field it is in. All you know is that the ball 
is lost somewhere in this field. You are to mark out a path 
to show me how you would hunt for the ball so as to be sure 
not to miss it wherever it might be. If you draw just a line 
to the center from the gate, like this, — it would mean that you 
only looked that far and then stopped, — and the ball might be 
away over at the other side ; you don't know where it is. Now 

on XA 

DXAO 

Aonx 

XDO A 
OAX 




Figure IL (vii, 5) 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 231 

begin at the gate, and with your pencil mark out a path to 
show how you would hunt for the ball so as to be sure not 
to miss it." 

In giving an individual child this test, according to Dr. 
Terman's directions, the examiner watches what the child 
draws, and if he stops after drawing just a short path, the 
examiner asks him where he would go next if he hadn't yet 
found the ball. As such procedure is obviously impossible 
with a large group of children, the illustration is used in the 
directions. 

Scoring. The test is passed if the child shows a plan as 
good as those shown on Terman's score card for eight-year- 
old children. 

VIII, 2. Writing from Dictation. (Binet) 
_ Procedure. " I want you to write something for me as 
nicely as you can on this long line. Write these words : ' See 
the little boy.' Be sure to write it all : ' See the little boy.' " 
Scoring. The test is passed if the sentence is written legibly 
enough to be easily read, and if no words are omitted. Unless 
a word is so incorrectly spelled as to make it unrecognizable, 
the error is not counted. 

VIII, 5. Counting the Value of Stamps. (Binet) 

Material. Use a cardboard on which have been pasted 
three one-cent stamps in a row at the top, and three two-cent 
stamps in a row under these. 

Procedure. "Write the answer to this question on the 
short line here." Hold the card before the children and say : 

" How much will it cost to buy all these stamps ? A green 
stamp is worth one cent, and a red stamp is worth two cents. 
Now, how much are they worth altogether ? " 

Scoring. Test is passed if the answer, 9 cents, is given. 

VIII, 4. Comprehension Test. (Kuhlmann) 

Material. Three one-inch squares are printed in the book- 
let on page 3. 

Procedure. Point to the parts as you mention them. 

" See this first square. This is the center of the square. 
What IS It? This is the upper right corner of the square. 
What isit? This is the lower left corner. What is it? This 
is the middle of the left side of the square. What is it? 

" Now take your pencils, and draw a straight line from the 
center of the first (second and third) square to: 

1) The upper left corner. 



232 LOWELL 

2) The middle of the upper side. 

3) The lower right corner of the square." 

Scoring. The test is passed if two of the three Hues are 
correctly drawn. 

VIII, 5. Estimation of length of lines. (Kuhlmann) 
Material. On separate pages of the booklet are drawn 
three lines. The first line, drawn vertically in the center of 
the page, is three inches long ; the second line, similarly drawn 
on another page, is two and one-fourth inches long; and the 
third line, drawn horizontally, and having two curves, is 
three inches long. 

Procedure. " I want to see how well you can judge the 
length of lines without a ruler or even your pencils to help 
you measure. Look at this line carefully, and then draw a 
line under it here, horizontally, i. e., from left to right like 
this, (hold pencil where line is to be drawn), which is 

1 ) Just as long and no longer than this line. 

" Now look at this next line. Draw a line under it, here, 
horizontally, which is 

2) Just twice as long as this one. 

3) " Let's play that this is a piece of string. If I 
could take hold of the ends of it, and pull the string out 
straight, how long a piece would it be? Draw a straight 
line here, to show how long it would be." (Point to space 
under the curved line.) 

Scoring. The test is passed if two of the three lines are 
drawn within one-half inch of the required length, i. e 

1) 3 in. 

2) 4H in. 

3) 3 in. 

TESTS FOR GROUP IX 

IX, I. Drinking Cup. (Bureau of Analysis, etc., N. Y.)* 
Material. A square of white paper, 7}^ x 7j^ in. 
Procedure. " I am going to show you how to make a drink- 
ing cup, and when I finish, I want you each to make one just 
like it. Watch carefully. 

1st: Fold the square through the center like this. 
2nd : Take the right hand corner and fold it over to 
the opposite side so that these two edges are equal. 



« New York State Board of Charities, Bureau of Analysis and 
Investigation: Eleven Mental Tests Standardized, 1915, Eugenics and 
Social Welfare Bulletin No. V. p. 42. 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 233 

3rd: Next, take the other corner on the left side, 
and fold it over the same way so that the edges come 
straight across. 

4th: Then, fold down this flap, and put it into this 
outer space to hold it. 

5th : Now fold down the top flap for a cover, and you 
see how the cup looks. 

" You take your square of paper now, and make one." 
Scoring. The test is passed if the five folds of the drinking 
cup are correctly made. 

IX, 2. Maze. (Porteus)" 
Material. The maze used by Porteus for nine year children, 
is printed in the booklet. See Fig. III. 




Figure III. (ix, 2) 

Procedure. " Here you have a maze. Some of these paths 
are open, so you can get through, and some are closed at the 
ends. See how quickly you can find the shortest way out, 
without getting into any of the closed paths. Start where you 

9 Porteus : Mental Tests for Feeble Minded ; Journal of Psycho- 
Asthenics, Vol. 19, No. 4, June., 1915, pp. 200-213. 



234 LOWELL 

see the letter S, and mark out the very shortest path you can 
find in order to get out over here on the other side. Do not 
stop to erase anything. If you make a mistake, just draw a 
Hne across it and go on as fast as you can." 

Scoring. The test is passed if the shortest path is marked 
out in one minute, with not more than two errors. An error 
consists of a Hne, however short, drawn out from the shortest 
path. 

IX, J. Tapping Squares. (Whipple) ^° 
Material. A sheet of paper is used on which a rectangle 
has been printed. This rectangle is divided into 150 half-inch 
squares, arranged in ten rows of fifteen squares each. 

Procedure. " Please take your pencils and hold them firmly 
about half way up. Place your arm comfortably on the desk 
so that it may bend freely at the elbow. Now when I say, 
* Ready,' you are to tap as many squares as you can, in order, 
without hitting any square twice, or missing a square, or 
touching any of the lines. Work until I say ' Stop.' " 

Scoring. The test is passed if 50 squares are correctly 
tapped in the 30 seconds allowed. 

IX, 4. Alphabet Test. (Kuhlmann) 
Procedure. " Of course you all know the letters of the 
alphabet, a-b-c-d-e etc. Who can tell me what is the first 
letter before 'C'? (B). Now who can tell me what is the 
sixth letter before *X'? (R). Let us put this one on the 
board, R-S-T-U-V-W-X. Notice that W would be the first 
letter before X, V the second, U the third, T the fourth, S the 
fifth and R the sixth. 

" I will give you 30 seconds to answer each one of these 
questions. 

i) What is the 3rd letter before K (H) 

2) " " " sth " " W (R) 

3) " " " 2nd " " F (D) 

4) " " " ist " " Q (P) 

5) " " " 4th " " E (A) " 

Always write the letter to be used as a basis on the board, 
so that the children will not misunderstand. 

Scoring. The test is passed if three of the five letters are 
correct. 

i<* Whipple : Manual of Mental amd Physical Tests, 1910. pp. 100- 
115- 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 235 

IX, 5. Memory Test. (Kuhlmann) 
Procedure. " I am going to write five words on the board, 
and let you look at them for a few seconds. Then I will erase 
them and write five others and let you look at them, and so 
on with the other series. When I am through, I will give you 
the first word of a series, and you are to write down from 
memory, the other four words that go with it. Then I will give 
you the first word of the next list, and you will write the 
four that go with that one, etc. You must not write down any 
until I tell you to." 

Let them look at each series for 30 seconds, then erase and 
take the next. Give them 30 seconds to recall each list. The 
lists are : 
Silver red kitchen blackboard lawn 

spoon cow stove teacher grass 

table fence flour desk tree 

bread clover water slate house 

fork dog spoon lesson walk 

Scoring. The test is passed if the child gives three series 
without more than one error in each. An omission counts as 
an error. 

Difficulties of Administering Group Tests 

Many problems, which from their very nature can never be 
entirely eliminated, arise in giving group tests to the primary 
grades. Some of these difficulties are due to the distractibility 
of young children, to their inability to comprehend directions 
readily, to their undeveloped moral sense, to the attitude^ of the 
teacher, and to the apparent inhibition of response which the 
nervous child exhibits. 

The inability of the young child to attend to set problems 
for any length of time is a serious difficulty. It necessitates 
devoting almost the entire first year of his school life to the 
formation of habits of work, of play, of thought and of living. 
Up to the time of his entrance into school, he is permitted to 
eat, sleep, and play largely at will, but with the beginning of 
his educational career he is expected to live according to a 
more or less definite plan, regardless of his own wishes or 
pleasures. When a stranger tries to test forty such children, 
before regular habits have been formed, the difficulties en- 
countered may easily be imagined. Usually, the children are 
sufficiently shy and timid not to need disciplining, but some- 
times that very timidity prevents them from being responsive 
at first. Therefore, their confidence must be won by the time 



236 LOWELL 

the booklets are distributed and the examiner is ready to begin 
the testing. The fact that the children are not permitted to 
look through the pages except as they use them for the tests 
helps to keep up the interest. When the booklets are finally 
distributed, the directions for the first test given, the children 
attentively (?) awaiting the signal to begin work, and then a 
little voice in the corner confidentially informs one that " My 
sister has some gold beads just like yours," the examiner 
wonders if he can ever be sure of a child's attention. 

The difficulty experienced by young children in compre- 
hending directions has been discussed under the " Selection of 
Tests." Frequent illustrations, full and explicit directions 
with numerous repetitions, all help the child in understanding 
what he is to do. However, ability to comprehend and follow 
directions accurately, is a test of intelligence, and too many or 
too great a variety of instructions may destroy the value of 
the test. 

In order to stimulate the child to his best effort, one appeals 
to his competitive instinct, his sense of rivalry. This has its 
disadvantages, for the child in his eagerness to do better than 
his neighbor, or to get a word of praise from the examiner, 
resorts to methods " fair or foul." It is generally agreed that 
the young child is non-moral. The disapproval of the group 
has not been experienced sufficiently to make a lasting impres- 
sion; and so the child slyly copies from his neighbor, or 
covertly writes on his desk the digits which are being read. 
To guard against such conditions as these, the writer has used 
various devices. Some have been mentioned under Procedure, 
such as having the child place his hands in his lap the instant 
he is given the signal to ' Stop ;' cover his work with his 
hands as soon as he has finished the task assigned ; or, in the 
digits test, place the pencils on the desks and leave them 
there until told to write. In one or two instances, where the 
attention had several times been called, without effect, to the 
fact that someone in the room was not playing fair, more 
drastic measures have been taken, such as speaking to the 
child by name, or changing his seat. However, as most chil- 
dren are very sensitive to criticism, such measures are seldom 
necessary. 

Frequently a teacher, not knowing the object of the group 
testing, feels that unless the pupils respond well to the tests, 
her reputation as a teacher will be at stake. In her anxiety to 
have the children make a good showing, she offers sugges- 
tions which help them. For example, when trying out various 
tests for the nine-year group, the writer used Terman's test 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 237 

of finding all the words that rhyme with " Day, mill and 
spring." In one third grade, the teacher felt that the children 
were not responding as readily as they should, so with much 
irritation she spoke to the class. " Why, children, you know 
how we have been finding words to go in the ' ING ' family, 
so I don't see why you can't find others like ' Day ' to go in the 
' AY ' family." Of course the children could find words 
after that, but the test, as such, had lost its value. To avoid 
such incidents, the examiner should explain to the teacher at 
the outset that the purpose of the work is to see what each 
child can do by himself, without any suggestions from her. 

So far, no difficulty has been experienced in securing the 
proper attitude on the part of the child, for the interest and 
novelty of the tests counterbalance any temperamental dis- 
turbances. However, it has been evident in the cases of sev- 
eral nervous children that the excitement produced by the 
competition, novelty and mental effort has inhibited responses, 
especially where the test has a time limit. If a pupil happens 
to be an only child and has not yet learned to adapt himself 
to an environment in which there are many children, he may 
fail to make an average score in the group tests, though when 
tested individually he may test even above normal. 

Table of Norms and How to Use It. 

« 

If group tests are to be of value in selecting subnormal chil- 
dren, the number of tests passed by an individual must corre- 
late with his age and intelligence. Table II shows the average 
number of tests passed by children of each chronological age 
and of the various I. Q.'s found in Grades I, II, and III. 

As shown by the above table, the chronological ages of the 
children ranged from six to twelve years. By six years is 
meant all ages from five years six months to six years five 
months, inclusive ; by seven years is rneant all ages from six 
years six months to seven years five months, inclusive; etc. 
In order that the average number of tests passed by children 
of any age might serve as an index of their intelligence, indi- 
vidual I. Q.'s were obtained by means of Dr. Kuhlmann's 
1917 Revision of the Binet tests, and then the average num- 
ber of group tests passed for these various intelligence quo- 
tients and for each chronological age was computed. Thus, 
in using the table of norms in classifying an individual case, 



238 



LOWELL 



TABLE II 

Norms. Average Number Tests Passed at Various Ages and Grades 

Grade I. (Group Tests V— VI— VII.) 



I. Q. 

.70. 

.80. 

.90. 
1.00. 
1.10. 
1.20. 
1.30. 

I. Q. 

.70. 

.80. 

.90. 
1.00. 
1.10. 
1.20. 
1.30. 
1.40. 



6 yrs. 7 yrs. 8 yrs. 9 yrs. 



11 



10 yrs. 11 yrs. 



2.0 


4.6 


6.2 


4.3 


6.6 


9.6 


6.1 


8.4 


11.8 


7.7 


11.2 


14.5 


8.2 


12.6 




10.5 


14.0 




13.0 


15.0 





Grade II. (Group Tests VI— VII— VIII.) 





7.3 


8.6 




8.8 


11.0 


8.6 


9.9 


12.4 


9.6 


11.4 


13.7 


10-1 


12.5 


14.5 


11.5 


13.5 




13.3 






15.0 







I. Q. 

.70. 

.80. 

.90. 
1.00. 
1.10. 
1.20. 
1.30. 
1.40. 



Grade III. (Group Tests VII— VIII— IX.) 





8.0 


9.8 


8.5 


9.2 


10.8 


9.5 


10.2 


11.9 


10.0 


12.0 


13.0 


12.0 


13.5 


14.2 


13.1 


14.6 




14.2 







one compares the number of group tests passed by him with the 
average number of tests passed by children of the same grade 
and chronological age, and finds the average in the series and 
its corresponding I. Q., with which his score agrees. For ex- 
ample, if an eight-year-old child in the first grade passed only 
seven tests, his score would lie between the average for chil- 
dren of his age who had an I. Q. of .70, namely 6.2 tests, and 
the average of those with I. Q. of .80, or 9.6 tests. This would 
give him a group I. Q. of .72. Since such a rating would place 
him in the sub-normal group, he should undoubtedly be given 
the individual Binet tests, in order that his mental status be 
accurately gauged. 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 239 

Reliability of the Group Tests 
In order to determine the reliability of any series of tests, 
the data must be considered from various points of view. 
The aspects which will be discussed in connection with the 
reliability of the present scale are; first, the discriminative 
capacity of the tests, i. e., their ability to distinguish between 
children of various ages, as shown by the increase in the per 
cent passing the tests for successive chronological ages; 
second, the percentage of children passing " at age," i. e., the 
percentage which will cause average six-year-olds to show a 
mental age of six years, average seven-year-olds to show a 
mental age of seven years, etc., as compared with the percent- 
age passing at age in the individual tests ; third, the ability of 
the group tests to discriminate between various mental ages 
in three school grades where the same group of tests has been 
given; fourth, the correlation between group and individual 
tests, as calculated by Karl Pearson's method ; fifth, the agree- 
ment between group test results and school attainment; and 
sixth, the correlation between the writer's scale and an " Abso- 
lute Point Scale," " when used on the same children. 

The Increase in Per Cent Passing for Successive 
Chronological Ages 

The discriminative capacity of group, as well as of indi- 
vidual tests, is measured by the increase in the percentage of 
children passing the tests from one age to the next. The 
greater the increase in the percentage passing any test from 
one age to the next, the higher is the discriminative capacity 
of that test. 

Table III compares first, the percentage passing at age for 
each test in the five age groups, with the percentage of children, 
chronologically a year older, passing each test; and second, 
it compares the per cent increase from one chronological age 
to the next as found in the group tests, with the per* cent in- 
crease found by Kuhlmann ^^ and Terman,^^ where they have 
used the same tests in their revisions as individual tests. For 
example, 66 per cent of the six-year-old children passed the 
aesthetic comparison test (VI,1) when given in the group, 
and 75 per cent of the seven-year-olds passed it, thus giving 

" G. Arthur and H. Woodrow : An Absolute Point Scale. /. Appl 
Psychol. Vol. 3, 1919, pp. 1 18-137. 

12 These figures were taken from results in Dr. Kuhlmann's 1912 
revision, in which the tests had not been correctly placed in the scale. 

13 Terman's results as quoted are taken from the data published in 
1917 on the Stanford Revision. 



240 



LOWELL 



an increase from, one age to the next of 9 per cent. When 
Kuhlmann used it as an individual test, he found an increase 
of 4 per cent passing from ages six to seven, and Terman 
found an increase of 6 per cent at the same ages. 

TABLE III 

NCREASE IN PER CeNT PASSING FOR SUCCESSIVE CHRONOLOGICAL AgES 



Group V 

1. Formboard 

2. Counting 4 Cir- 

cles 

3. Copying square 

4. Discriminating 

Colors 

5. Irregular Tap- 

ping 



Yr. 6 Yr. 7 % Individual % Increase 

(121cases) (135cases) Increase Kuhlmann Terman 



65 

66 
85 

72 

70 



84 



19 



87 
95 


21 
10 


81 


9 


85 


15 



Yr. 6 Yr. 7 % Individual % Increase 

Group VI. (122cases) (136cases) Increase Kuhlmann Terman 

1. Aesthetic Com- 

parison 66 75 9 4 6 

2. Mutilated Pic- 

tures 63 74 11 6 15 

3. Irregular Taps. 60 88 28 

4. Two Com- 

mands 54 75 21 .. .. 

5. Perception of 

Sound 51 74 23 .. " .. 



Group VII. 

1. No. of Toes. .. 70 

2. Memory Span . 63 

3. Copy Diamond 84 

4. Tying Bowknot 72 

5. Geom. Figures. 61 



Yr. 7 Yr. 8 % Individual % Increase 

(95 cases) (198 cases) Increase Kuhlmann Terman 



88 


18 


17 


81 


18 


3 


92 


8 


11 


81 


9 


. , 


76 


15 





9 

6 

18 

16 



Group VIII. 

1. Ball and Field. 70 

2. Dictation 78 

3. ValueofStamps 70 

4. Comprehension 

Test 72 

5. Length of Lines 69 



Yr. 8 Yr. 9 % Individual % Increase 

(199cases) (174cases) Increase Kuhlmann Terman 



79 


9 


87 


9 


84 


14 


81 


9 


81 


12 



20 



7 

8 

17 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 241 

Yr. 9 Yr. 10 % Individual % Increase 

Group IX. (106cases) (112cases) Increase Kuhlmann Terman 

1. Drinking Cup.. 67 78 11 

2. Maze 73 83 10 

3. Tapping 

Squares.... 70 79 9 

4. Alphabet Test .73 83 10 

5. Memory Test. .60 71 11 

Unfortunately, there are no other similar group tests pub- 
lished, with which the writer's percentages passing the various 
tests can be compared. However, there is about as much 
variation existing between the data from the two revisions 
of the Binet Scale as between the individual and group results. 

Per Cent Passing " at Age " in Individual and Group 

Tests 
Considerable difference exists between the percentage of 
children passing " at age " in the group and in the individual 
tests. Kuhlmann has found that a much higher percentage 
of young children pass " at age " than of the older ones ; thus, 
he found that 88 per cent of the four-year-old children pass 
the four year tests, whereas only 54 per cent of the twelve- 
year-olds pass the twelve year tests. However, in the group 
tests, the writer finds as small a percentage of six and seven 
year children passing six and seven year tests, as of nine-year- 
old children passing the nine year tests. Table IV compares 
the percentages passing " at age " as found by Kuhlman ^^ in 
the Individual Tests with those by the writer in the Group 
Tests. Thus, 78 per cent of the six-year-old children pass the 
six year Individual Tests, and only 60 per cent of them pass 
the six year group tests. 

TABLE IV 

Per Cent Passing at Age in Individual and Group Tests 

C. A. 6 Yrs. 7 Yrs. 8 Yrs. 9 Yrs 

Kuhlmann— Individual Tests . 78 73 68 64 

Lowell— Group Tests 60 69 72 68 

The explanation of these differences in the six and seven 
year results may be found in the fact that a group test is 
largely a matter of comprehending and following directions 

1* These figures were given me through the courtesy of Dr. Kuhl- 
mann, from his manuscript of " The M easurement of Mental Develop- 
ment, a further Extension and Revision of the Binet-Simon Tests " 
to be published soon. 



242 LOWELL 

presented orally, without any individual help for individual 
needs. If a child has not been accustomed to doing things in 
a group, he will be easily distracted. Then, too, the younger 
the child the less capable he is of following instructions ; but 
with each additional year of experience, and with an increas- 
ing mental age, the performance of tasks become easier. The 
effect of these two factors, namely, increasing mental age and 
increasing number of years in school, on the number of group 
tests passed, is shown in Table V. 

TABLE V 

Relation of M. A., No. Years in School and Av. No. of VII Year 
Group Tests Passed 

Average Number of Tests Passed in : 
M. A. Grade I Grade II Grade III 

4 — 4.9 years 

5 — 5.9 years 

6— 6.9 years 

7— 7.9 years 

8— 8.9 years 

9 — 9.9 years 

10-10.9 years 

The data for the above table was obtained by testing 277 
children individually, with Kuhlmann's 1917 Revision, — thus 
getting their mental ages. Then the average number of tests 
in the VII year group — this group was the only one of the 
three which was given in all three grades — passed by children 
of the various mental ages, was found for each grade. Thus, 
children with a mental age of 6 — 6.9 years, who have been in 
school less than one year, — that is, who are in the first grade, 
on the average pass 1.2 tests of the VII year group; children 
of the same mental age who have been in school nearly two 
years, or are in the second grade, pass 3 tests ; and those in 
the third grade, of the same mental age, pass 3.3 tests. So, 
with each additional year in school the number of tests passed 
increases, even though the mental age remains constant. On 
the other hand, with the " time in school " factor constant, 
but with increasing mental age, one also finds an increase in the 
number of tests passed. Thus, in grade I children whose mental 
age is 4 — 4.9 years will not pass any of VII year tests ; those 
whose mental age is 5 — 5.9 will average 0.7 of a test ; whereas 
those having a mental age of 8 — 8.9 will average 4.0 tests. 

These facts seem to indicate that two important principles 
are involved in the group responses of primary children. 










0.7 


1.0 




1.2 


3.0 


3.3 


2.7 


3.4 


4.4 


4.0 


4.3 


4.5 




4.5 


4.5 

4.5 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 243 

First, that the distractibiUty, so noticeable in kindergarten 
and first grade children, gradually decreases with each addi- 
tional year of group or school performance, until it becomes, 
in the third grade, a negligible factor. In other words, the 
individual third-grade child has had time to adjust himself 
to his new environment, and to realize through frequent en- 
counters with other members of the group, that his wishes 
and his behavior must conform to theirs. Second, mental age 
is an important consideration. This is true, however, only 
in so far as the work is sufficiently difficult to require effort 
on the part of the individual. Thus, in the third grade, taking 
carelessness and chance error into account, the maximal per- 
formance is reached, for the VII year tests, at a mental age 
of eight. Further increase in mental age does not improve 
the average eight year score. 

Correlation Between Group and Individual I. Q.'s. 
Since the standardization of the group tests has been com- 
pleted, the writer has given the group tests to 153 children in 
the primary grades and found their group I. Q.'s. Then all 
of these children were tested individually by Kuhlmann's 1917 
Revision of the Binet tests, and their individual I. Q.'s worked 
out. The coefficient of correlation, computed by Karl Pear- 
son's method, for the two series of I. Q.'s is .77 . 

Group and Individual I. Q.'s vs. School Attainment 
Individual records in group tests form a basis for promotion 
in primary grades, for the results obtained by group tests 
agree more closely with school attainment than do the results 
obtained by individual Binet testing. As a rule, children who 
give poor response to group tests, do poor school work, while 
those who obtain group I. Q.'s above 1.10 are capable of 
special promotion. 

On the basis of Terman's ^^ classification of normal or aver- 
age children, namely, those having I. Q.'s from .90 to 1.10, 
the 153 children mentioned above were grouped into three 
classes. Those having individual I. Q.'s below .90 were called 
dull, those with I. Q.'s from .90 to 1.10, inclusive, were con- 
sidered average or normal, and those with I.Q.'s above 1.10 
were classed as superior. Then these cases were redistributed, 
on the basis of group I.Q.'s, into the same three classes. A 
comparison of the results is given in Table VI, 

1^ L. M, Terman : The Measurement of Intelligence, 1916, p. 94. 



244 LOWELL 

Table VI 
Classification of 153 Cases by Group and Individual I. Q's. 

Dull (Below .90) Average (.90 to 1.10) Superior (1.10 f ) 
By: No. Cases No. Cases No. Cases 

Individual I. Q.'s. ... 27 80 46 

Groupl. Q.'s 49 66 38 

By this table, one notes that 22 more cases are rated as dull 
by the group scores than by the Binet I. Q.'s. School records 
of these 22 children offer the f ollov^^ing bits of information : 



Case 1. 


RR.i'« 


Case 2. 


Very poor school Mfork, Marks average 70-76. 


Case 3. 


R. 


Case 4. 


RR. 


Case 5. 


Deaf, — hence class w^ork unsatisfactory. 


Case 6. 


RRR. 


Case 7. 


School v\rork just passing — even with aid of special 




help. 


Case 8. 


R. 


Case 9. 


Conditioned in grade. Neuropathic heredity. Does 




nothing in group, and only with much coaxing 




can information be elicited when the child is 




alone. 


Case 10. 


R. 


Case 11. 


R. 


Case 12. 


Father of child f .m. — one brother an idiot — an 




aunt an idiot. 


Case 13. 


R. 


Case 14. 


R. 


Case 15. 


Has very poor comprehension. Has to have much 




individual help. 


Case 16. 


R. 


Case 17. 


R. 


Case 18. 


RR. 


Case 19. 


Stammers very badly. 


Case 20. 


Conditioned. Can only make grade with individual 




help. 


Case 21. 


R. 


Case 22. 


R. 



■"^^ R = repeated work of grade. 

RR= repeated twice the work of the grade. 

RRR = repeated three times the work of the grade. 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 245 

Of the 66 cases classed as normal by the group tests, 53 
receive a similar rating by the individual tests, and the other 
13 were classed as superior. One must remember in this con- 
nection that a difference in an I.Q. of one point may change 
a child's rating from dull to normal or from normal to 
superior. For instance, a group I.Q. of 1.10 will place a 
child in the normal group, whereas an individual I.Q. of 
1.11 would classify him as superior, and vice versa. A differ- 
ence in classification due to a difference of 3 points or less 
between group and individual I.Q.'s occurred in 5 of the 13 
cases mentioned above. The school records of the other eight 
give the following comments : 
Case 1. Slow to respond. Never volunteers to recite in 

class. 
Case 2. Schoolwork inferior to Individual I. Q. Does poor 

team work. 
Case 3. Lazy and careless — will not work if possible to 

avoid it. 
Case 4. Doesn't work well in group — wants attention cen- 
tered on self. 
Case 5. Has been in school less than one year. Spent one 
day in each of Grades I and II and then was 
located in grade 3B. 
Case 6. R. 

Case 7. Can't adjust to conditions in a group either at work 
or play. Is irritable and nervous. Mother in- 
sane. 
Case 8. R. 

Agreement is very close between Group and Individual 
ratings of the superior group. One interesting case is found 
on school records for this class, namely that of a child who 
was doing such good school work that the teacher recom- 
mended a special promotion for him, although his I. Q. as 
determined by the Binet tests did not warrant it. In view of 
his excellent school work, and of the fact that when given the 
group tests his score placed him in the superior group, the 
child was given the extra promotion. He has been in the new 
grade nearly two months and is still doing superior work. 

Careful consideration of available school records seems to 
indicate and in fact, to emphasize a closer agreement between 
group test results and school attainment than between Binet 
scores and school work. Such a correspondence is to be ex- 
pected, however, when one realizes that the principles involved 
both in group testing and in school work are fundamentally 
the same. 



246 LOWELL 

Correlation Between Two Group Intelligence Scales 
While the present writer has been devising and standard- 
izing a group intelHgence scale by the " all-or-none " method, 
an " Absolute Intelligence Scale " " has been constructed in 
which a point method has been used. Nine well known types 
of tests have been used, namely : 

1) Immediate Memory Span 

2) Easy Opposites 

3) Hard Opposites 

4) Substitution 

5) Word Building 

6) Language Completion 

7) Anagrams 

8) Cancellation 

9) Comprehension 

Without discussing the mathematical calculation of their 
points, a fairly accurate idea of the general plan of the scale 
may be obtained from the following quotation : 

" The quotients which we have termed discriminative values 
represent an absolute increase in ability from one age to the 

next, for their respective tests. The final absolute 

intelligence scale is secured simply by adding to- 
gether the point scales of the individual tests. The normal 
absolute intelligence for any age is simply the sum of the 
normal point scores of that age for all nine tests." 

This point scale dififers from the all-or-none scale in prac- 
tically every detail except that both are Group Intelligence 
Scales, and both can express their scores in terms of intelli- 
gence quotients. The two series of tests were given to a group 
of 77 children, and I. Q.'s for each scale computed. The co- 
efficient of correlation between the two groups of I. Q.'s is 
0.76 (Karl Pearson.) 

Summary 

The present group scale offers a means for measuring the 
intelligence of large groups of children accurately enough to 
sort out all children of questionable normality. It also forms 
a basis for school promotion and demotion in the primary 
grades. 

It consists of 25 tests, arranged in groups of five, and for 
convenience, called five, six, seven, eight and nine year tests. 

1'^ Grace Arthur and Herbert Woodrow : An Absolute Intelligence 
Scale. The writer is indebted to Miss Arthur and Dr. Woodrow for 
their cooperation in comparing group results and for making their data 
available for the writer's purposes. 



A GROUP INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR PRIMARY GRADES 247 

The tests have been standardized on the basis of results ob- 
tained from 904 children of the ages five years six months to 
ten years and five months, inclusive. 

The uncorrected coefficient of correlation (Pearson) be- 
tween measurements made, in terms of intelligence quotients, 
by the Group Scale and by Kuhlmann's 1917 Revision of the 
Binet Tests is 0.77. 

The group results form a more accurate index of the child's 
performance, than do the individual results obtained by the 
Binet tests. 

The uncorrected coefficient of correlation between two 
series of I. Q.'s obtained for 77 children by the present group 
scale and by "An Absolute Point Scale " is 0.76. 



